• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
K.V.ReddyPresidentAll India Prison Officers Association09849904733 / 09440060055E - Mail: kvreddydsp@yahoo.com
PRISONS AND HUMAN RIGHTS
INTRODUCTION
This report is based on the proceedings on the workshops on ‘Prisons and Human Rights’organised at Bhopal by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) in collaborationwith the Madhya Pradesh Human Rights Commission (MPHRC). The workshop, conductedon the 25
th
and 26
th
of April 1998, was attended by representatives from the Law Commissionof India, the National Human Rights Commission of India (NHRC), MPHRC, MadhyaPradesh State Commission for Women, CHRI, retired and serving officers from the prisonsand police departments, ex- prisoners and their family members, members from NGOs,academicins, bureaucrats, journalists and lawyers.The main objective of the workshop was to sensitise the administration to human rightsissues; suggest mechanisms to monitor prison conditions effectively and ensureaccountability in respect of violation of human rights; discuss the problems of prisonadministration and ways to motivate and develop prison staff.Inaugurated by Mr. Justice M.N. Venkatachaliah, Chairperson of the National Human RightsCommission, the workshop was divided into four sessions with two sessions on each day.The first day’s sessions, presided over by Mr. R.K. Kapoor, former Director, IntelligenceBureau and Mr. Justice Awasthy, Member MP Human Rights Commission, covered issues pertaining to the modernisation of prison administration and motivation and development of  prison staff. The second day’s sessions, chaired by Justice Leila Seth, Member, LawCommission of India, discussed the subject of prisoner’s rights: the need for transparency andaccountability; and monitoring of prison conditions.1
 
The need for prison reforms has come into focus during the last few decades. The SupremeCourt and the High Courts have commented upon the deplorable conditions prevailing insidethe prisons, resulting in violation of prisoner’s rights. The problem of prison administrationhas been examined by numerous expert bodies set up by the Government of India. The mostcomprehensive examination was done by the All India Jail reforms Committee of 1980-83, popularly known as the Mulla Committee. The National and the State Human RightsCommission have also, in their annual reports, drawn attention to the appalling conditions inthe prisons and urged governments to introduce reforms.Prisoners’ rights have become an important item in the agenda for prison reforms. This is dueessentially to the recognition of two important principles. Firstly, the prisoner “is no longer regarded as an object, a ward, or a ‘slave of the state’, who the law would leave at the prisonentrance and who would be condemned to ‘civil death’.”
1
It is increasingly been recognisedthat a citizen does not cease to be a citizen just because he has become a prisoner. TheSupreme Court has made it very clear in many judgements that except for the fact that thecompulsion to live in a prison entails by its own force the deprivation of certain rights, likethe right to move freely or to practice a profession of ones choice, a prisoner is otherwiseentitled to the basic freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.
2
Secondly, the convicted persons go to prisons as punishment and not for punishment.
3
Prison sentence has to becarried out as per court’s orders and no additional punishment can be inflicted by the prisonauthorities without sanction. Prison authorities have to be, therefore, accountable for themanner in which they exercise their custody over persons in their care, specially as regardstheir wide discretionary powers.It is thus the above two themes- ‘prison administration’ and ‘prisoners’ rights’- are broughtunder focus in this workshop.This report summarises the deliberations of the workshop, highlighting the important issueswhich emerged during the deliberations and the important recommendations which were
1
Dr. Kurt Neudek,
The United Nations
in
 Imprisonment Today and Tomorrow- International Perspectives on Prisoners’ Rights and Prison Conditions
eds., Dirk van Zyl Smit and Frieder Dunkel; Kluwer Law and TaxationPublishers, Deventer, Netherlands, 1991.
2
Charles Shobraj vs. Superintendent, Tihar Jail, AIR 1978, SC 1514
3
Jon Vagg. Prison System- A Comparative Study of Accountability in England, France, Germany and the Netherlands, Clarenden Press, Oxford 1994
2
 
made during the sessions. The report does not present the deliberations in the chronologicalsequence in which they were held but groups them under different thematic heads.3
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...